Comment: Susijengi got the giant audience confused, but Lauri Markkanen needs to improve

Finland the men’s national basketball team is a phenomenon.

The sold-out Veikkaus arena in Helsinki on Friday night proved that. And the 12,489 spectators who arrived did not sit quietly. There was an atmosphere in the arena.

There was no doubt about the crowd favorite. Having returned to the national team after the NBA season Lauri Markkanen each act created a huge storm of cheers.

Despite the popularity, Markkanen’s match started rather sticky. The first two drives to the basket ended in losses, and especially in the second quarter, the Finnish superstar’s dry season was prolonged. Despite that, he was tied for first place in the internal points statistics at the break Edon Maxhunin with his 12 points.

The Finnish team was also in trouble for long periods in the opening half. Hungary led the match for long periods, before at the end of the second quarter, Susijengi started to get their shots in the basket and strengthened their defense.

In the end, Finland did what they had to and beat Hungary by eight points.

Tasoero became clear during the match, even though Markkanen was given surprisingly few shooting opportunities. In the third quarter, Hungary started to tire and Susijengi began to press on the landscape.

Markkanen’s more moderate role in the attacking game than usual arouses mixed thoughts. The situation in Finland is better than in previous years to the extent that the offensive game is not only dependent on Markkanen’s points when Markkanen is in the team.

On the other hand, in these summer qualifiers, in which Markkanen is participating, Finland must get hard results. Against tougher opponents than Hungary, Susijengi needs a maximum contribution from its leader. He must be able to drive to the basket more efficiently.

Markkanen showed aggressiveness from time to time even now. At the beginning of the final quarter, two Hungarian players found out, who flew in an arc on their backs to the surface of the parquet when they happened to be in the path of a drive from Jyväskylä.

Despite everything, Markkanen scored 21 points against Hungary and stood out in important moments. He’s just so incredibly good that the bar is incredibly high.

Wolf gang this time Maxhuni emerged in the back field. He shone on the offensive end throughout the match and finished with 20 points.

Also 18 years old Samu Adler got a few minutes of playing time.. The basketball league’s spring number one star played most of his minutes alongside Maxhun, but didn’t really get up to speed yet.

Next, Susijengi’s resistance will be considerably tougher, when it thinks about the group victory in France against France on Monday. When France has brought in NBA guys Rudy Gobertin with management, just basic strong collective action is not enough.

Finland’s victory is possible if Markkanen is what he should be in Pau: clearly the best player on the field. All possibilities for the fall of France are there. It would guarantee an excellent starting point for the next stage of the World Cup qualifiers starting in August.